Red Like Roses
by Haru17
Summary: Ruby and her team have choice seats for the Vytal Tournament. First off, hammer meets blades as Ren and Nora go up against each other. This is a shonen-like story, so expect fights, banter, and backstories all throughout. Definitely not a retread of canon. Also, it's rather violent.
1. The Tournament

—

Chapter 1: The Tournament

Ruby looked on with excitement and joy, "Wooo! Go Nora! Kick his butt 'til you're together-together!"

"Honestly, Ruby, you have no restraint," Weiss protested, chuckling in good faith.

"The moon looks beautiful today," Penny non sequitur'd, happy just to be allowed to sit with her friends.

The evening sun, too, shone out over the absolutely packed colosseum, Beacon's spires tracing arcs with their shadows. Team RWBY and their +1 sat in a row in the upper seating, with JNPR seated just below them. Nora and Ren, however, had no time to socialize for th—

Nora swung Magnhild crossways, Ren barely ducking below getting his head knocked off.

Suffice it to say, the Vytal tournament was in its last few rounds.

'Thanks for that, Ruby,' Ren remarked to himself, pouncing upward at Nora.

Nora barely blocked StormFlower's dual slash with the haft of Magnhild, blasting with its head to turn her block into a point blank swing as the audience cheered.

"Sick, Nora! Beat up your boyfriend!" Yang cackled.

'Tch, tough crowd,' Ren thought to himself as thrusted his right arm forward. Using his aura he blasted Nora backward, quickly swinging his elbow down to blast Magnhild out of her hands. The greathammer hit the sand, tumbling to his feet, causing Ren to smirk, 'How's that?'

"Great move, Ren!" Ruby shouted.

'THANK you,' Ren thought.

"Fair-weather fan!" Nora retorted.

Now thoroughly ticked, Nora charged Ren, grabbing hold of his wrists. With a deceptive amount of strength, she wrested Ren's arms spread-eagle, pulling him towards her, and delivered a powerful headbutt to his forehead. Ren was launched backwards, eliciting an ecstatic roar from the crowd.

Ren dropped StormFlower's two parts in the dirt before slamming into the ring's stone wall. Seeing his quirky partner going for her hammer, he now charged her. "No you don't," trying to spin her around to pin her arms from behind.

"Oh my!" Pyrrha exclaimed, covering her mouth in shock. The rest of the audience was similarly taken aback.

Ren was only partly successful, lifting Nora momentarily, but she caught his neck with her right arm as he tried to go around her. "No you don't," she retorted, beaming.

But Nora had not see his right arm as it came around to pinch her neck as well.

"Well, shit," she said as Ren grinned.

And so, there the pair stood, grunting both in exertion and for air, slowly choking one another out.

"Draw," Goodwitch called from the announcer's booth.

"Put a sock in it, benevolence!" Nora yelled, face reddening.

Goodwitch made a mental note to assign Nora the next shift of locker room cleanup.

Ruby just stood their shocked, now really now knowing who to root for.

"I guess they really are a perfect match for each other," Jaune observed, seeing the pair's free hands flailing impotently as they struggled for air, "...in a way."

"I'm getting all choked up." Yang said, wiping a fake tear from her eye.

The group had learned by now not to even encourage Yang; groans and glares only made her stronger.

"Should we… help them," Penny asked the group."

"Shush! Just sit and watch." Weiss commanded, engrossed by the duel.

"Goodnight, Nora," "Love you, Ren," the pair gasped as they slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Draw," Goodwitch sardonically repeated, turning the mic off, "Honestly, these children…"

A confused and spotty round of applause swept through the crowd.

"Well, that ended... gracefully?" Weiss remarked.

Blake took it upon herself to leap down to the arena, carrying Ren to the infirmary as Jaune picked up Nora.

"Don't be too hard on them, Glynda; they're just spirited kids," Ironwood said kindly.

"Hmph," came her reply. Despite her typically icy demeanor, Professor Goodwitch was quite enjoying the festivities after training these students all year.

Ironwood, too, was enjoying the day, helped greatly by the numerous Atlesian androids standing guard around the arena.

"Both combatants have been eliminated and we will now move into the semi finals," Goodwitch announced over the loudspeaker, "Contestants Coco Adel and Yang Xiao Long, please come to the field."

"Aww, I hate mirror matches!" Ruby jibed.

Yang shot her a glare, "Whelp, it looks like it's time for me to fight s'more."

It broke them.

Weiss rested her brow on her forefingers in exhaustion, "All day, you've been at this ALL day!"

"It seems as if you are causing our friends pain, please cease this behavior," Penny stated.

"Fine, fine! Wish me luck, guys," Yang said, hopping down into the ring.

"Yay, do it, sis!" Ruby said, unfazed.

Right as Yang touched down, Coco strode into the ring, a swagger in her step.

Hitting her fists together Yang mocked, "What's up chocolate, you ready to do this."

Stretching her arms elegantly, Coco replied, "Don't lose too fast... for me."

They slid on their sunglasses and stared each other down, reflecting back the setting sun.

'Told youuu!' Ruby sang to herself.

Goodwitch's voice sounded over the intercom, "The first semifinal match will now… Begin!"

Coco immediately transformed her handbag into a gatling gun and opened fire.

"Watch out!" Penny cried, seemingly familiar with that weapon model.

Ignoring her advice, Yang charged straight in, eyes closed, her hair trailing behind her, taking the bullets in stride. Opening her now-scarlet eyes, that same fire engulfed her right hook as she literally shot it towards Coco.

Pivoting, Coco swatted her fist away with the gun barrel.

Yang, however, was too quick, grabbing the furthest edge of the red-hot barrel with her right hand and swinging with Coco to fire a left hook.

Coco, as it happened, was also too quick, ducking under the blow.

Yang did, however, manage to strike her stylish beret, immediately firing Ember Celica and ripping it to shreds.

Not to be outdone, Coco retracted her gun and swung it at Yang, mid-transformation, hitting her chin with an uppercut.

Yang simply looked back down with a smirk, "Heh, I like," and grabbed hold of the upperclassman, firing both gauntlets into her rapidly.

Coco managed to beat her away with her metal-studded purse, stepping back.

The audience was in an uproar over the lightning-fast exchange. Judging from the chants, both Yang and Coco had a sizable number of mostly-male fans.

Glancing down at her now-tattered clothes, Coco, sighed. "Now look what you've done!" she chided, clearly irked.

"You're in for it now!" Velvet shouted, earning a partisan glare from Ruby.

* * *

Meanwhile, Roman Torchwick sat in a cell, frantically gnawing the collar of his jacket. After much effort, and, thankfully for him, before the guard came back, he ripped the hardened fabric open. Reaching into the sewn-in compartment, he retrieved a flash drive and second small stick of technology.

Just as he had them in his hands, he heard the patrol approaching. Diving the flash drive into his pocket, he tried to appear peaceful, clutching the other device in his right fist.

"Make yourself decent, Torchwick, it's time to come out," the guard called, stepping up to the cell.

"Oh, am I going to get a decent meal for once?" Torchwick inquired through the steel door.

"Not likely," came the man said, "but it is time for your dinner." He looked down at his scroll, checking the cell's vital monitors. The guard tapped one final time to open the cell, readying his weapon just to be safe.

The second the door receded into the floor Torchwick seized the opportunity and lunged at the man, stabbing at him with the device. A burst of gunfire and a muffled grunt were followed by the guard slipping to the floor.

Pocketing the sparking device, Torchwick marveled at it's effectiveness. Granted, he also picked up the man's assault rifle, but that was just to be safe. Clutching his left side, now the home of at least one round's worth of dust, he made off for the upper decks of the airship.

* * *

Coco charged back in, holding her purse to shield her from Yang's shells. She drew back her purse and loosed a powerful right swing, her freed auburn locks whipping around wildly.

"Don't wear what you're afraid to lose," Yang goaded, blocking the purse with her left gauntlet.

"My thoughts exactly," Coco purred, grabbing Yang's blocking arm, spinning her around to slash with a blade from her purse-shaped armory.

The general audience was puzzled, but the smart money in team RWBY's row all gasped in terror. Coco had not struck Yang with her blade, but rather given her a shave… to shoulder length.

Yang immediately elbowed Coco in the gut, blasting her gauntlets the get away and promptly whirling back around. The sight she was greeted with was Coco smirking, her outfit in shambles, over a thick pile of golden locks, **her** golden locks. Dreading the outcome, Yang raised her hands to feel the back of her head. She felt around a bit, hands stopping just below the shoulders, grasping for something that was no longer there.

"Oh God...," Ruby and Weiss said in unison.

"Give, me back, my hair!" Yang shouted in a rage, looking up with at Coco with an absolutely withering glare, hair alight with radiant power.

Coco backpedaled, wasting no time in switching to gatling gun form once again, and opened fire.

Yang forced herself to think tactically for once, this being THE tournament and all, judging that she could not absorb much more gunfire from the ridiculously powerful weapon. She literally blasted off, harnessing her semblance to to run evasive circles around the gun-toting girl. Yang chuckled to herself that Ruby would approve of her strategy.

"Attagirl, Yang!" Ruby predictably cheered.

Coco tried to lead her target, which proved only marginally successful, given her erratic speed.

Yang spiraled inward towards the turret, now, taking a few hits to her aura and returning fire with her shotgun-fists.

Coco's aim was becoming more accurate as the death spiral constricted.

Feeling this, Yang suddenly pivoted towards the center and leapt into the air, aiming a punch straight at Coco.

Coco predictably readjusted her aim, causing bullets to ricochet off of the holographic barrier in front of the audience who, in turn, roared in approval.

"What're you doing!?" Weiss cried, aghast.

Grinning, Yang loosed a flaming fist straight at her Coco, who only just back stepped. Not to be deterred, Yang stepped into the torrent of bullets, closing the distance to unleash a barrage of punches and gun-blasts at the gatling-purse.

Both weapons dueled each other head on, kicking up a cloud of dust, sand, and smoke. Then, the firing suddenly stopped. The spectators stood in silent anticipation, straining to see into the slowly-clearing cloud.

As the vapors cleared a panting Coco emitted a sad tone, mourning her smoking gun's crumpled barrel.

Yang was breathing heavily as her scarlet eyes cooled to their typical lilac hue.

They were both out of bullets.

* * *

Back on the capital ship, Torchwick dispatched the last surprised guard with another round of gunfire, silently thanking the Vytal Festival for drawing most of the regular guards off of the ship.

He limped past several bodies to the captain's chair. Resting on the control panel, he quickly locked the room's door and halted the elevators to avoid any further interruptions. Slipping the flash drive into the unit, he transferred the virus to the Atlesian android maintenance system.

"I'm in," he cheekily exclaimed, instantly regretting his remark as he winced in pain.

Torchwick was momentarily surprised to see a confirmation request concerning a special unit. He impatiently clicked it, growling in torment from his open wound.

He entered flight commands before finally sliding to the floor, bleeding and exhausted.

"You're welcome Cinder, I never thought I would die for you, though," he said to the empty room, chuckling weakly.

"You won't, Roman," a voice came, lulling him into unconsciousness.

* * *

At the same time Blake set Ren down on the infirmary bed, guiding his unconscious body down to lie flat. She shuddered at the horrible puns she knew Yang would make out of this. Jaune had lost pace with her during the walk over from the colosseum. Blake laughed to herself, wondering if Nora had woken up yet.

After notifying the nurse, Blake left the room. While exiting the building on her way back to the tournament Blake spotted something inexplicable; something that shouldn't have been there. As much as she didn't believe what she was seeing, Blake couldn't ignore her eyes; there he was. The red-haired man strode across campus in his dressy tuxedo.

Blake immediately dialed Ruby.

"Blake, what's up? Are Ren and Nora—"

"Forget about them! Look, it's him, Adam, the leader of the White Fang; he's here!" Blake said, panicked.

"R-Right, okay, what do I do!?" Ruby asked, recognizing the serious tone of Blake's voice.

Penny slowly rose, calmly removing a magnetic blade from her back while the crowd cheered for Coco and Yang's fistfight.

"Just get everyone someplace safe; something's definitely going down today!" Blake warned.

Ruby looked over just in time to see Penny plunge the blade into Weiss' chest.

"AUGHAAA!" Weiss gasped.

Everything else went silent for a moment as the group heard her tortured cry, only to look on in horror. The heiress, shocked herself, looked down to see her crimson vital fluid slowly seeping into her pure white dress. Then, she coughed up some of her own blood.

"WEISS!"


	2. Scatter

—

Chapter 2: Scatter

"WEISS!"

The sun was setting on Beacon as Weiss slowly bled out.

"Penny! What've you done, why?!" Ruby cried as she ran to help Weiss.

Penny said nothing, pulled the blade from Weiss, and leveled it, wet with fresh blood, at Ruby.

"AAAUGGHHHAAA!" Weiss screeched in pain at the blade being drawn from her chest.

"Stop this, stop hurting her!" Ruby half-cried over Weiss and half-screamed at Penny.

The crowd stood either confused or paralyzed the screams, gradually beginning to panic. Yang and Coco both ceased their brawl to look up at the source of the terror, unable to make out exactly what had transpired from that distance.

All at once the android guards opened fire on the audience. The students were shielded by their auras, but many noncombatant spectators were cut down instantly. Screams arose all around the colosseum as the civilians all began to flee. The students and teachers in the audience jumped into action, attacking the ironic guards.

"Out of my way, now," Ruby yelled, frantically drawing Crescent Rose and charging at Penny.

Penny split the single blade into a fan of 10, splattering teams RWBY and JNPR with Weiss' blood. A single drop of blood sailed over the audience, down from the stands, finally bursting directly on Yang's eye. Yang blinked rapidly and reopened her eyes to reveal Weiss' blood, soaking and corrupting her lavender eyes, turning them red with wrath.

"Coco, with me," Yang commanded upon hearing the general distress, leaping straight for Ruby. Her mind didn't bother to figure out exactly what was going on; only that she needed to protect her sister. Upon seeing Penny's blades the fire in Yang's eyes spread through her hair, blazing through the sunset sky.

Penny's blades blocked Ruby's scythe, their magnetism struggling against her panicked semblance.

"Get away from my sister you bitch!" Yang screamed, flying at Penny. Her fist was quick, but Penny's floating blades were a moment quicker; blocking her blow with the flat of her weapon.

Yang's flame engulfed her fist as she pushed it straight through Penny's blocking blade, melting the metal as she went. She nearly punched Penny's emotionless face to molten dregs, but the robot reacted too fast, leaping back over the rim of the colosseum.

Ruby ran to Weiss' side as Yang landed, shocked as she looked over her bloodied form.

Seeing this, Yang, growled, leaping over the colosseum's outer wall, chasing Penny with Coco right behind her. Pyrrha made for the nearest automation.

Ruby just looked into Weiss' eyes. The shock was ebbing now, as she seemed to noticed Ruby. Their eye contact said more than words ever could.

"Ruby, I'm glad you're here," Weiss said softly, causing herself to hack up more blood.

Ruby stubbornly shook her head, the tears finally arriving as she choked her words out, "D-Don't talk! You'll be fine, you have to be!"

Weiss sadly looked at the girl with benign regret in her eyes.

An explosion tore through the sky; Atlas' capital ship had rammed into another of its own fleet. The two gargantuan constructs hanging momentarily in the sky as they met before plummeting down to earth. The capital ship itself looked to miss the school; heading for the waters below the cliff's edge. The second ship, however, loomed dark over Beacon, closing in on the crowded colosseum. As it sank lower the crowd screamed with renewed panic.

Goodwitch turned from fighting to see newest source of their terror. Leaping down into the ring, she held her magical riding crop astride. Fixing her glasses with her left hand she thrust her wand forward with the other. Immediately the ship froze in place, it's welding buckling in sequence; the compartments' momentum rippling to a halt. The force was no less on Goodwitch's end, as the sand beneath her all crumpled as if struck by an invisible meteor. Straining, she readjusted her glasses while beads of sweat gathered on her brow. "Everyone leave of the vicinity immediately!" she shouted, her voice magically amplified. The ship above loudly groaned in protest, seeking gravity's full embrace as loose metal wreckage rained down upon the campus.

"Ruby, we need to go!" Pyrrha shouted over the screams, gunfire, and deafening sound of ripping metal from above.

Ruby silently nodded, taking Weiss into her arms, flinching at her partner's pain from being moved. The three girls leapt down from the stadium's rim.

The colosseum was now rapidly emptying of bodies; alive bodies, that is.

Ironwood was loathe to follow Goodwitch's advice with death looming above her. He leapt down to her side, immediately grunting under the pressure. "Glynda, we need to go!"

Shaking her head, Goodwitch wordlessly redoubled her efforts. She managed to push the ship back slightly, her breathing ragged.

"You need to get out of here before you release the ship!" Ironwood pleaded.

Goodwitch collapsed to one knee, ignoring him and clutching her wand with both trembling hands now. The force on the sand around her lightened as the ship began to slip towards the emptying stadium.

The corpses still populated the stands; sitting as audience to her mortal struggle.

Seeing his vessel approach, Ironwood grabbed Goodwitch. Grunting in effort, he lifted her and some of her burdens with her. Without pausing he ran off, harnessing more speed than seemed natural, heading into one of the arena's exit tunnels.

Using the last of her strength to slow the ship's descent as much as possible, Goodwitch felt unconsciousness coming on. Her vision flickered to blackness while traveling through the dim tunnel.

* * *

Ruby landed far outside the arena, as gently as possible for her partner's sake. Her warm tears fell softly onto Weiss' clothes, which were already covered in her lifeblood. Weiss, too, was crying, though, unlike Ruby, she wore a fragile smile on her face. Meeting her eyes, Ruby held her tightly and whispered, "Weiss."

Weiss raised a trembling hand to Ruby's cheek. "Ruby… live," she uttered ultimately.

"D-Don't talk like that! You'll b-be fine, please," Ruby choked out, half in prayer.

Ruby held onto their eye contact like Weiss' life depended on it; as if their shared gaze was the only thing tethering her to this world. She saw in Weiss' crystal orbs all of her happiness, love, sadness, regret, hope, and good-natured anger. And then her orbs shattered. Her hand fell limp from Ruby's face and her eyes went still.

"Weiss? Weiss! Please don't leave me, Weiss!" Ruby's screams were drowned out by the deafening sound of the airship crashing into the stadium behind them.

* * *

Outside the now-smoking colosseum Ozpin ran up to the disturbingly modest-sized group of survivors. He surveyed them in his usual calm manner, though noticeably faster. Hundreds of students, a handful of teachers, some Atlesian guards from nearby, many civilians, and plenty of wounded. He also spotted Ironwood nearby, holding— His eyes widened, "James, what has happened? Is she—"

"She's fine! She passed out after saving most of them from the crashed airship," Ironwood said, gesturing to the crowd. His brow then furrowed, "My robotic guards, they, they just started firing on the everyone. I think our network has been compromised."

"It would seem that way," Ozpin said in his usual demeanor.

Ironwood clenched his fist in anger, not at Ozpin, but at himself. He knew that he had played right into the enemy's hands; allowing his large army to become invaders at the push of a button.

"I'm sorry, Oz, I had no idea—"

A unnatural roar echoed from across the plains outside of campus, prompting everyone's gaze. A pitch black mass was emerging from the eastern forest, soon to cross the grassy field separating the campus from the trees. Within the mass of grimm were all of the normal shapes as well as several larger, much more ancient beasts. Among them mammoths and giant gorilla-like creatures.

"We'll discuss strategy later, James! Just get the wounded and civilians to the docks! Glynda too!"

"You won't get rid of me so easily." Goodwitch said, dropping from Ironwood's arms, gathering herself, and rising to stand.

"Can you still walk?" Ironwood asked.

"Do I still have legs? Goodwitch countered, walking over to the terrified crowd. "Alright, noncombatants and wounded follow General Ironwood; he will help you all evacuate. Team CFVY! Follow and keep them safe."

"Alright, but our leader isn't here right now," Velvet replied, clearly nervous of her impromptu command.

"I'm confident that you'll be able to guard these people on your own," Goodwitch said, dismissing her, "Now! Everyone else follow me; we're going to end those grimm."

And with that Goodwitch threw her head toward the grim. Her glare rocketed a deathstalker's stinger clear through it's head; slaying it instantly. "Charge!" she cried, appropriately thrusting her riding crop aloft.

Sun, Neptune, CRDL, and the rest of Beacon charged across the field; blades, polearms, and blunt weapons all at the ready.

"Glynda, keep them safe! I need to look after the rest of the students around campus," Ozpin called. He jogged off towards the center of campus, seeing White Fang ships descend upon the school in the distance.

* * *

Meanwhile Jaune was still crossing the campus southward; from the colosseum to the infirmary. Lugging Nora, who rested over his shoulder, all the while. The sun shone over the school's many rooftops, leaving the campus' paths below in a cool contrast with the amber-lit buildings. Unfortunately for Jaune, the sun also revealed many, many androids dropping from the lone remaining airship, reflecting brightly off of their chrome bodies.

Having seen the airship go down earlier Jaune knew something was amiss. So when the robots landed and approached him, he tensed, worried for Nora and himself. "Noraaa, now would be a great time for you to wake back up!"

Hearing no response he armed himself with Crocea Mors' shield on his left hand while his right secured Nora over his shoulder. He took off, sprinting, aiming to weave behind the nearest building to him. As the androids began to fire on Jaune, a thought occurred to him, 'Oh, for cryin' out— Why are the hyper-effective death robots never on **our** side!?'

* * *

Earlier...

"AUGHAAA!" Weiss' scream played through Blake's scroll.

"Dammit, that bastard!" Blake yelled, enraged by their hurting Weiss, and ran out of the infirmary building after Adam.

She saw the suavely-clothed faunus break into a run, obviously involved with whatever was happening at the arena.

Blake just ran harder.

Above her she heard a loud, echoing crash.

She ran even harder, impotently hoping that nothing hurt her friends further and that Weiss was okay. 'She must be, right? She couldn't be… Rrrg, Adam!'

She saw Jaune out of the coroner of her eye, passing him and dismissing the thought of talking too him. Involving him in this fight would endanger not only him, but the unconscious Nora as well. Moreover, they would just slow her down and Blake wanted Adam all to herself, regardless of what happened to her.

Nearing the colosseum, now, Blake and Adam both saw the gigantic ship careen into the rotund structure; their respective forms melting into each other violently.

Blake hoped to God that her friends, not to mention everyone else, had gotten out in time. She wouldn't allow Adam to harm a single other person, she thought as she closed in on him. They both sprinted into the smoking arena's south entrance tunnel, which, despite everything, seemed undamaged, if a bit dustier than normal. They ran in the darkness, their forms indistinguishable from the walls if not for their faunus eyes.

Gripping Gambol Shroud, Blake cast the right blade forward, ribbon in tow. It wrapped around Adam's leg, who quickly cut it away with his katana, but it had given Blake the time to close she needed. Picking up the knife again, she drew its twin, combining them into a single blade and lunging at Adam, her katana raised, and bring it down upon him with all of her might.

As they emerged into the fire-lit colosseum Adam wheeled around, drawing his katana, and blocked Blake's vertical strike in a single horizontal motion. Sparks leapt from their swords' contact, flying into the air to dance with their countless brethren drifting up from the airships' burning wreckage in the orange sky. Despite his reflexes, he could not abate the force of Blake's attack; as she pushed downward upon their blades he was forced to take a knee.

Seeing this, Blake took the opportunity to deliver a quick kick to his stomach, causing his guard to falter momentarily, but quickly regain its strength.

Adam knew this blade-lock could only end badly for him, tilting his katana downwards to slide Blake's blade off to the side and backstep out of the contact.

"So, you weren't sated by all of those workers you killed?" Blake spat at him, "You wanted more human blood!?"

Clang, clang, kaching.

Blake's advance was countered by Adam, throwing her blade off to the side for enough time to elbow her in the face.

"You misunderstand, Blake, the White Fang isn't doing this for revenge or spoils, no! We're in this for the long game; to create a society that your ivory-walled school could never make!"

"Your murder will only result in more deaths; peace won in battle never lasts," Blake retorted.

"What? Are you upset that I killed some of your human friends?" Adam mocked, "They would do the same to you if they knew you were a faunus; don't mistake your false world for the real one!"

The two dark figures clashed back and forth, their dancing shadows cast across the stands by the flickering firelight. The sounds of their struggle echoing through the arena; off of the wreckage, through the flames, and over the many bodies that littered the stands.

"Well, I hadn't wanted to kill you, but you're giving me no other choice," Adam said, the insignia on his tuxedo glowing red and white.

"Just try," Blake said.

Adam leaped back, sheathing his blade, and instantly drew it again, slashing horizontally to unleash a deadly wave of energy at Blake. The energy seemed to consume all nearby light, throwing the arena into stark contrast between the brilliant flames and bottomless shadows; the blood-red sky and pitch-black void that had replaced the arena's sand floor.

As color returned to the world Blake stood atop a bisected shadow of herself, stretching. Her yellow eyes just as angry, though significantly more amused, "Wow Adam, I'm destroyed, really."

Adam remained silent, though obviously internally frustrated.

"You always were just talk," Blake said, leaping at him as her likeness' two halves fell apart.

Batting her katana away with his own, Adam leapt up to the stands.

Blake was about to follow when the embers in the air were suddenly cast aside by a loud wind from above the arena. A bullhead descended to hover about 30 feet above the ground between Adam and Blake; a heavy machine gun mounted on its side, pointed at Blake.

Wasting no time, Blake threw half of Gambol Shroud, piercing the fuselage just behind the cockpit, ribbon tether and all. Staking the other blade into the sand and tying it off, Blake leapt up onto the ribbon as the turret began to fire on her, sprinting up it's taunt surface. As soon as the pilot realized what was going on, she immediately pulled up.

That severed the connection sure, but Blake managed to leap from the ribbon as it came loose, landing in the bullhead's passenger bay and kicking the White Fang gunner overboard in one fluid motion. The ship's ascent had yanked the latter half of Gambol Shroud out of the ground, launching it into the air. Blake swiftly turned back and created a clone that caught the blade in its flesh. Pulling half of Gambol Shroud out of her shadow's torso with her left hand, Blake let the doppelganger drop. Instead she chose to pull the ribbon, rocketing the other edge of her blade into her right hand.

"Your mistake was getting between my target and myself," Blake chided. She then spun, whipping Gambol Shroud's twin parts around her body using the ribbon that connected them.

She leapt out of the bullhead as it began to sink, crashing in the arena behind her, it's power lines having been cut.

Blake landed and rose, her body wrapped in the ribbon. She left just enough slack to allow free movement of her arms, which held their respective blades high. "The White Fang's path of blood ends here; I won't allow you to harm even a single person more!" Blake said adamantly.

"You think fighting amongst ourselves is going to solve anything?" Adam retorted, readying his katana.

"It will avenge the faunus that you killed here today," Blake said coldly.

"What would you know about avenging your own kind, Blake? You're afraid to even show your true face," Adam yelled.

"Only because of murderers like you!" Blake cried with fury, cutting her ears loose.

"Murderers like us."

Blake lunged before the ribbon halves even hit the ground, striking at Adam with renewed wrath. He blocked her attack, but her strikes came quicker now and from both sides. Using the ribbon that connected Gambol Shroud's two edges, Blake whipped the weapon around, manipulating its reach and trajectory before pulling it back into her hands for another quick strike.

Blake fell upon him in a rage; her form seemingly shifting between humanoid as the firelight struck her and a savage, bestial shadow in its absence. Adam, however, remained upright, fending off her rapid slashes with his defensive stance. Her strikes echoed throughout the ruined colosseum, forming an discordant refrain with the crackling, burning wreckage.

"Happy now that you've killed more humans!? That was what you wanted, wasn't it!?" Blake spat.

She was screaming now, despite his parrying the fight was starting to look like a great panther matron mauling her prey. Blake's rightward slash knocked Adam's blade just a little too far and she instantly capitalized; tearing into his side with her left claw.

Adam staggered back, only to receive a cut to his thigh. He quickly reupped his guard only to bear the brunt of a new flurry of slashes. Left, right, up, down; each one he blocked at a perpendicular angle, each one came faster than the last.

The audience of corpses bore witness to yet another mortal duel.

Blake's unhinged form flickered even more in the dying firelight, appearing to shift and diverge with the shadows. Her clones seemingly flowed from her; some blocked her prey's path while others served as posts for Gambol Shroud's ribbon to wrap around before flanking him.

Within seconds Adam was engulfed in a crowd of shadows; all shifting, merging, and splitting with the firelight. The brilliant glow of his suit seemed a beacon that would drive away the dark. Nevertheless, it was clear to him that continually blocking would only lead to exhaustion and eventually death. So he struck out, taking several hits to his aura in the process. His one swipe, though, cleared more than half of Blake's clones and provided him an opportunity to escape from the onslaught.

Stepping back, out of the clone crowd, Adam staggered slightly, holding his katana straight in front of him in a blocking position.

The real Blake savagely lunged at him, striking Adam's katana with a cross dual slash; pinning his blade. She eyed his throat, pushing his katana back towards it, growling in rage and exertion. Suddenly the thought came, 'Will I kill him?' and she disengaged, leaping back a few meters. Her rage was dispelled, leaving only the hurt girl that only Blake's closest friends knew.

Adam sheathed his blade, preparing to draw and unleash all of Blake's fury back upon her. He lunged toward her, drawing his blade in a diagonal slash.

Blake, surprised, barely managed to evade out of the way of that strike as it cut down her many clones, but it was not Adam's true attack. He had held the devastating dark energy in, using it now to propel his katana back at her rapidly.

The blade made a sickening noise as it sunk into Blake's chest.

The thrust carried Adam forward; causing him to hoist Blake off of the ground while still on his blade. Her eyes were lifeless, devoid even.

It was then he looked down at his chest to see a katana protruding from his own body.

"AUGKH!" he cried, coughing up blood mid-way through yelling.

"You never did know restraint, Adam," Blake said, ripping the blade from his flesh.

Adam slumped down onto the arena floor besides Blake's shadow, his blood soaking into the sand.

Blake sheathed Gambol Shroud, walking out of the arena.

* * *

Blake emerged from the east side of the arena, leaving the darkness of that place behind for the bright-orange outside world. She saw her friends; Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss.

She broke into a run.

No sooner had Blake reached her trio of friends than she had realized she only had two friends left.

"I'm sorry… I wasn't fast enough," Blake said, tears forming in her eyes.

Pyrrha looked sadly on, "Blake…," she said softly.

Ruby just weep into Weiss' bloodied and cooling form.

Blake stood there for a moment, but her resolve soon hardened.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Blake said, picking up Myrtenaster and removing its elemental cartridges. She set the blade down gently by Weiss and the crying Ruby.

"Just stay safe, ok?" Blake said softly, touching Ruby's shoulder. She rose and made for the White Fang ships descending upon the campus. "Pyrrha!" she called, handing the lightning and earth cartridges to the gladiator.

They slotted the elemental rounds into their weapons, starting to run towards the nearest group of White Fang.

Blake split once, twice, three times. Exhausted, she managed to produce a fourth clone; this one of fire.

Pyrrha tapped the burning shadow on the back, gesturing it up and launching it at the White Fang soldiers with her semblance.

* * *

Ruby wept into Weiss's body; clutching and slowly rocking her. Her pained cries ringing out across the amber-lit square.

Rose petals began to swirl around her in an unnatural whirlwind. Her semblance always brought petals with it, but this was different. This flurry whipped around her in a violent, chaotic path. Ruby went silent. She gently set Weiss down and rose, eyes still shut tight, the wind catching some of her tears. Her shirt and blouse were dripping with Weiss' blood, but the wind took that away too; literally dissolving it into rose petals that joined those already encircling her form.

Ruby's eyes snapped open, heavy with hateful tears for the first time.

"Penny!"

With that, she disappeared. Not literally, of course, but to everyone looking Ruby was simply gone. In truth she had just moved faster than the human eye could see; nothing remarkable.

Ruby, however, did not lose sight of her goal. She sprinted southward, where Yang seemed to have gone, judging by the burn marks on the buildings. Ruby's feet had left the ground, the wind whipping through her hair as she rode over rooftops with her semblance.

Her presence, it seemed, had not gone unnoticed by the world itself, as her speed left in its wake a wind that tore branches from trees and tiles from roofs. Ruby was seeing red, even as the cool-colored campus blurred past her in the evening light. What she didn't expect was for her vision to go even more bloody.

Out of nowhere Cinder landed atop the building in front of her; fire, red-hot garb, and all.

Ruby instantly drew, attempting to cleave the crimson woman.

Despite Ruby's speed Cinder still leapt over her scythe, coursing into the air while Ruby touched down on the rooftop.

This earned Cinder a projectile Crimson Rose, which she easily dodged mid-flight.

What she wasn't expecting, however was for Ruby to vanish before her very eyes in a flurry of rose petals. An instant later she reappeared, perched upon her still-spinning blade, crouched and ready to pounce. Ruby evaporated once more, this time reappearing only inches from Cinder as her fist closed the distance.

"YOOOUUU!"

A booming smacking sound reverberated across the northeastern part of campus.

"You did this!" Ruby yelled after the woman, retracting her fist.

Cinder, for her part, had seen the hit coming. Much like she now saw the pavement rushing to meet her quite-bruised face as she hurtled towards the ground.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled, leaping up to her sister as she landed back on the rooftop. Pulling Ruby into her embrace she spoke into her sister's hair, "I'm so glad you're okay… is Weiss?"

Ruby shrugged her off, "Yeah, she's dead. What about Penny?"

Yang closed her eyes for a moment. She had figured Weiss would be dead, judging from what she had seen of her wounds earlier, but she had still maintained a hopeless hope. 'It doesn't matter now. All that matters now is keeping Ruby safe.'

Sighing deeply, Yang answered, "She continued on southward. I ran to you as soon as I heard; you were moving pretty fast there."

"Right, well, we can get her later. Right now help me with Cinder; she looks like the leader so if we take her out their whole attack plan will go down with her."

"Okay," Yang agreed, extending Ember Celica to cover her forearms. She was glad that she and Coco had salvaged some fresh rounds from a group of Atlesian androids while chasing Penny, even if it has slowed them down. "Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."

Ruby simply leapt down.

Yang followed suit; if her sister was going to act dangerously at least she would be there to keep her safe.

They landed on a path that ran through the campus' well-maintained grass. What the sun didn't illuminate was covered in long, pale shadows.

Ruby walked over to pull Crimson Rose out of the ground where it had fallen.

Coco walked up to the two sisters pulling out her gatling gun, "Hey, Ruby, I'm sorry, but could you help me out here?"

Ruby took one look at the sorry state of the barrel and gave it a quick slice with with her scythe, cutting off the gnarled end of it.

"Thanks," Coco said, reloading her weapon. She remained quiet while they walked up to Cinder's slight crater in the concrete as Ruby obviously did not want to talk.

Cinder started to stand up when Ruby emptied a clip into her.

Deflecting the rounds with her palm, Cinder chided her, "You should expect better of me, girl. Now are you going to keep up your futile attack or—?"

After blocking another volley of gunfire from the trio, Cinder sighed, "Now, that's just not civil."

"I'm not doing this for nothing, you know?" Cinder started, taking a few more bullets in stride, "Everything this place stands for, huntsmen fighting grimm to the death, and quite-often that of the nearby townsfolk as well; it's not right."

"Are you really trying to convince us that fighting is wrong the same day you invaded our home and killed our friends and classmates?" Coco said dryly.

"Hardly," Cinder replied, "I wouldn't be mounting an attack if I needed to 'convince' people not to fight back to win. I simply wanted to paint the other half of the picture for you. Now, the inevitably of every single huntress dying in battle aside, your witless professors have told you that grimm are attracted to negative emotions, no?"

The group just glared at her.

"Right, well they aren't just attracted to negative emotions; they seek them like we do food. You see, grimm are literally made up of malicious feelings," Cinder said.

"What the shit does that have to do with anything!?" Yang yelled, eyes aflame.

"No negative emotions, no grimm; no violence. By hunting and dying the huntresses are literally creating their own enemies. Beacon is an institution that imparts this endless cycle to the next generation, tainting the future. I used the data-mining program I slipped into the CCT network on the night of the dance to write a virus that caused the Atlesian Knights to turn on everyone here. Without Beacon the population would be forced to control their—"

"You killed her!" Ruby screamed incredulously, slashing at Cinder.

Backflipping out of the way, Cinder cried, "If Beacon was gone everyone would be forced to reign in their emotions to survive!"

Ruby came at her once again, forcing Cinder to draw her twin swords. The result was a in a flash of flames closely followed by a burst of sparks as Crimson Rose met Cinder's blades.

"We could finally have peace; no violence, no discrimination, no more killing," Cinder implored, real emotion in her voice as she struggled; her blades locked against Crimson Rose.

"You've killed too many already," Ruby barked, hatefully glaring at Cinder over their sparking blades.

"You can't only think of yourselves; countless more people will live and die in this world. Forcing them to fight to even survive isn't right!"

"Rage Rose!" Ruby spat.

Using her semblance, Ruby ran rapidly, each step pushing Cinder back while her scythe threatened to come down upon her. After pushing her back around 8 meters on the path, Ruby delivered a quick kick, sending Cinder reeling. Taking advantage of her opponent's momentary falter, Ruby sprinted back past Yang and Coco and abruptly turned heel, her deep-red cape whipping around in the air as she rushed back towards Cinder at full tilt.

Yang simply grabbed onto Crimson Rose, hanging (or rather 'Yanging,' as she had insisted it be called during combat practice) off of the haft while Ruby sped them both towards Cinder.

Ruby phased in and out of visibility during her approximately 0.73 seconds spent traveling from Yang to Cinder. Even pulling her weapon around was a strain as the her own ridiculous momentum fought her. Nevertheless, Ruby circled Crimson Rose around, over her head, once, conserving her momentum and launching Yang at Cinder. The second rotation came much quicker now that her scythe had accelerated; Ruby leaning into the reaping strike while Yang pulled back her blazing fist, flying at Cinder.

Cinder lunged backward, moving the same direction as the sisters to lessen the effective force of the their dual strike. She maintained her guard which the far edge of Crimson Rose clattered into; shattering the twin blades with the force. The impact knocked Cinder back, alive, but helpless as Yang shot forward and delivered a gunshot-powered punch straight to her gut.

Cinder shot back, striking the concrete hard before beginning to tumble, rolling on the path. She righted herself, sliding to a stop on her crouched legs with her right hand scraping the concrete to slow herself, her glove sparking. Rising, Cinder sprinted straight back in. Nearing a regrouped Yang and Ruby, her leggings flared as she summoned another set of obsidian blades. Deftly combining them into her bow, she loosed several blast dust-infused arrows in quick succession, sprinting through their smoking wake.

Yang and Ruby chased after her.

Coco transformed her purse into a now-sawed-off gatling gun. She stepped off of the path so as to not hit her comrades and opened fire on Cinder.

Cinder quickly sprinted through the hail of gunfire, taking a few shots in stride, and lunged for the rapidly back-pedaling Coco. Dodging around her weapon, Cinder slashed up with her swords twice, reducing the barrel to a third length and then to nothing.

Coco tried to retract her weapon into its purse form, but it jammed up. She stepped back and swung the handbag up defensively.

Cinder dodged the clumsy blow and stepped in, slashing Coco twice, rupturing her aura, her blades meeting flesh.

"GAAAHHH!" Coco's cries came.

"No!" Ruby cried, desperately sprinting at Cinder as Coco fell to the ground.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang called, breaking into a dead sprint.

"Get away from her!" Ruby cried, swinging wildly at Cinder.

Deflecting her scythe to the side, Cinder saw another opportunity and swung her right blade at Ruby's exposed right.

A cane blocked her blow, its surface aglow with a white aura.

As soon as she saw Ozpin, Cinder pulled her weapons back and leapt to the rooftops to flee.

Immediately dropping to Coco's side, Ozpin observed the twin gashes on her abdomen. Removing his ascot, he wrapped it around her to tie off the wound. "You're going to be alright, these cuts don't run too deep."

Coco barely registered the noise as she was passing out.

Yang and Ruby just stood there, silently looking on until Jaune ran up, Nora hoisted atop him.

"What's going on!?" Jaune inquired.

"Cinder," Yang simply stated.

"Mr. Arc, you are to stay by Ms. Adel's side and protect her until the fighting ends, is that clear?" Ozpin said.

"Yes sir," Jaune said, going to lie Nora down.

"I myself will be following Cinder, do not follow me. What happened to Ms. Schnee was a tragedy that no one could have predicted or stopped. My only command for you two is to protect your fellow students within your abilities."

"We will," Yang said.

"Good. Stay safe you three," Ozpin said, running off to pursue Cinder on the rooftops.

They stood there in silence for a moment.

"Weiss…?" Jaune started.

Yang simply shook her head.

"Oh… I'm sorry," was all Jaune managed.

"We're going, Yang," Ruby stated.

Her sister nodded her consent.

"Don't you dare die," Yang told Jaune.

He simply nodded as the two girls leapt up the rooftops and headed south, headed for Penny.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ I hope you enjoyed this issue of 'Weekly' Shonen RWBY (laughs.) Either way, please tell me how you felt about the character interactions as well as action-y parts among other things in a review. I felt the need to progress the plot significantly in while maintaining the requisite quality for being even slightly worth reading. The result is a long update cycle and a chapter longer than all of my previous ones on this site combined.


	3. Seeds

—

Chapter 3: Seeds

Ruby leapt from one rooftop to the next, crossing the campus in leaps and bounds.

Yang was about a building's length behind, struggling to keep up with her pissed-off sister. 'And I thought I was the bullheaded one,' Yang mused. Ruby's wake was really something to behold; more than a few times the air currents had nearly caused Yang to lose her footing. They air was just… churning, like it was fighting to escape itself, except it had nowhere to go but sky.

Yang's black and beige hunter jacket was cooled as the rushing air streamed by it. Her purple scarf danced in the wind alongside her thigh. The feeling made her really miss her long, golden locks. 'Short hair is so… cold,' Yang thought as the wind chilled her neck.

They were quickly nearing the infirmary, all the way at the southern end of campus. The sun was gleaming off of the ebony roof tiles, nearly blinding them with its harsh orange light.

The infirmary came into sight, its weathered brick walls only a small yard's separation from the cliff overlooking the lake.

As Ruby landed on the adjacent building she swore internally, as there was still no sign of Penny. She did, however, spot a squad of White Fang. Her feet left the rooftop, launching a powerful gust behind her.

Yang was pushed backwards by the gale midair, quickly recalculating her trajectory to perch on a street lamp halfway between buildings. She looked up at Ruby, but not before a roof tile caught her in the jaw, drawing blood and spinning off towards the ground. "Ouch," Yang said, growling.

Ruby was halfway towards the soldiers, drawing her scythe out behind her. She flattened the blade, fanning out the blades while holding it perpendicular to the ground. It was then the murderers noticed and started firing on her. Approaching said ground at speed, shots whizzing past her, Ruby called upon her aura, building it up within her. In one motion Ruby touched down and channeled all of her momentum into Crescent Rose, swinging it 180 degrees right to left with a short yell. Her semblance-infused swing unleashed a powerful blast of air that carried the four soldiers over the cliff edge. The attack completely reversed Ruby's motion, forcing her to take a meter-length backstep. The White Fang, meanwhile, bounced off of the rocks all the way down the cliff before splashing into and coloring the waters below. Ruby stood there looking out over the cliff edge until Yang caught up, watching those who she had just dispatched.

Yang walked towards her across the grass towards her younger sister. Ruby was silhouetted against the sky, her crimson-hooded cape billowing in the wind as the orange light danced upon its folds.

Ruby turned to face her sister, the sun reflecting a brilliant white off of her single steel shoulder guard. In that instant Yang saw herself in her sister's eyes; a sight she had *never* wanted to see.

Her slayer gear had never been more appropriate.

"She's not here," Ruby stated.

"We should circle back and find the others," Yang said.

"Right," Ruby said, before bounded back to the north.

'Well, at least she's cooperative,' Yang sardonically thought, leaping after her sister.

* * *

Ruby and Yang were once again trapezing across campus, headed past the CCT Tower. It was right then that a localized explosion echoed out from over the roof of the dance hall ahead. They both stopped, landing on said rooftop, and looked down through the smoke to the path below.

Blake delivered a brutal knee to the stomach of an already-stunned White Fang infantryman while Pyrrha defended her back, guard up. Another faunus approached the pair before being dispatched by a rapid trio of strikes from Milo's speartip.

A second group of White Fang emerged from the hall upon which the sisters were perched, apparently not deterred by the smoking forms of their downed fellows. Ruby and Yang glanced at each other before leaping from the roof, bringing their respective weapons down upon their enemies respective craniums.

A flurry of slices from Gambol Shroud and a resounding thwack from Milo signaled the defeat of the remaining White Fang. The two mismatched partner pairs approached each other; Pyrrha sad-eyed, Blake looking pissed, Yang with concern in her eyes, and Ruby wearing a stoney face that, for her, betrayed just how furious she really was.

Blake was the first to speak, "We've cleared out most of the White Fang and Atlesian troops around here."

"But, there's no sign of Penny," Pyrrha solemnly said.

Ruby's face was unemotive.

"Same for us," Yang replied.

"What… do you think happened to her?" Pyrrha tentatively asked.

"Well, presumably the same thing that happened to the other Atlesian Knights," Blake said, harboring no good will towards the machines.

Ruby was barely listening.

"Basically; we found Cinder and she's behind this. She tampered with the CCT network and turned the guards on the us," Yang said.

"So she's being forced to attack us by a remote? That's terrible!" Pyrrha said in horror.

Ruby's eyes widened incredulously in anger.

Blake began, "Yeah, well either wa—"

Ruby fired a round from Crimson Rose, the rifle's retort partially deafening her adjacent friends. The shot zipped across the deserted courtyard, directly towards the doors of the CCT Tower… where Penny deflected it with her blade. However, as it spun away from her strike the fire dust round exploded; shattering one of the tower's many decorative columns and showering the android girl with jagged concrete debris which knocked her off balance.

'She's was just standing there in broad daylight! As if nothing had happened! As if she had never—,' Ruby raged internally as she raced toward Penny.

In the moment this was all transpiring within Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha went from annoyance at the unwarned deafening to combat alert once they noticed the explosion. They started after Ruby and the small squall in her wake.

As her comrades took their first step Ruby's scythe clashed against Penny's magnetic blades. They were able to block independently while Penny dodged the rocky debris in midair. Still, the math was in Ruby's favor with her sheer speed amplifying the force of her charging strike to ridiculous levels. Crimson Rose sheared through the two blocking blades before being caught by dual sickles en route to Penny and thrown back.

As Ruby landed she wanted, she yearned to leap back at Penny, but she was not foolish; she was not out of control. She knew that versus Penny and now Emerald— 'Wait, Emerald is part of this too!?' Ruby furiously considered, growling at her treacherous classmate. 'It doesn't matter; the fact is I have no chance against the both of them,' she resolved. Ruby backstepped twice from the foot of the tower's front steps and exhaled a quavering, hissing breath to calm her tensing muscles. At the same time she brought Crimson Rose up into it's guarding position; held diagonally with both hands across her chest. Flaring her nostrils and glaring at her antagonists over her weapon's shaft, she waited for her team to arrive.

To their credit, team P-BY were not at all slow, crossing the empty plaza moments after Ruby had settled. Arriving beside their leader, they took stock of their opponents, hefting their weapons aloft in their combat stances.

As if on cue Mercury and Neo stepped out of each of the tower's dual entrances, joining Emerald and Penny at the top of the debris-strewn steps.

The two impromptu teams stood opposed only meters from one another. Yang, Ruby, Blake, and Pyrrha stared down Neo, Penny, Emerald, and Mercury; each with their respective grudges.

"They're obviously guarding the CCT Tower for some reason," Ruby said to her teammates, though they were within earshot of the enemy.

"We'll break their guard," Pyrrha responded.

Emerald looked over her enemies and allies, 'This isn't good; they have a team of four while Neo and this special android model can't communicate. Which leaves me with...'

"Mercury, Neo; split them up and fight solo. Just keep away from the android and it'll fight on its own," Emerald ordered.

"Why do you get to make the battle plans?" Mercury whined.

"Cinder said I was in charge when she wasn't around," Emerald said coldly. "Just listen to me, okay Mercury? I don't want to lose anybody here," she warmed.

"Fine, fine. If you put it like that," he conceded.

Emerald looked over to her left and Neo gave her an uncharacteristically serious nod.

"Pyrrha, take Mercury," Ruby said. "Blake: Emerald. Yang, you go after Neo."

"Penny's mine."

"Try to get them away from the tower, but don't go too far," Ruby instructed. "Come back here immediately if you get in trouble."

The Beacon team nodded, signaling their agreement.

Neo gazed malevolently upon the students, twirling her umbrella.

"So, you're trying to rid the world of huntresses, huh?" Yang called at their opponents, readying her fists.

"Something like that," Emerald replied, twirling her sickles in-hand.

Blake separated Gambol Shroud into its two halves, readying to pounce.

"The path you walk is folly," Pyrrha called, raising Akouo. Looking over her shield's rim she said, "We will stop you," and readied Milo's sword form.

"Stop me? You couldn't even touch me," Mercury taunted, tapping his foot in impatience.

Ruby glared at her hacked friend, tightening her already white-knuckled grip on Crescent Rose.

Penny just stood there, emotionless.

"Ladybug" Ruby spat, lunging at Emerald with Blake. Emerald blocked each of Blake's blades with her sickles, but Ruby had leapt over them. Rebounding off of the doorway in an instant, she fired Crescent Rose, propelling her at Emerald and viciously slashed.

Penny caught her scythe on three blades, slashing back with her remaining four.

Backpeddling, Ruby yelled, "Bumblebee!"

Blake immediately disengaged from Emerald and cast her ribbon at Yang. Mercury tried to kick the two of them, but neither Akouo nor the scarlet-haired gladiator behind it would allow him. Blake swung Yang around on her ribbon, aiming her partner at Neo.

The strawberry and chocolate enigma gave a condescending smirk and stepped behind the nearby pillar, blocking Yang's path.

Yang wore a smirk of her own as Blake swung her as hard as possible into the concrete pillar. Yang shattered the support, punching through and sending fragments in every direction.

A surprised Neo tried to angle her parasol to block, but to no avail. She had wasted too much time taunting and Yang's fist met her square in the jaw, sending her reeling into Penny.

With Emerald, Penny, and Neo all clustered together atop the steps Ruby saw an opportunity; she knew the perfect plan of attack.

"Ice Flower!"

She fucking lost it.

Ruby charged at Penny, her first step stirring powerful winds in her wake. Everyone else was swept aside, some voluntarily and some not. Her scythe met Penny's blades in an instant, issuing an ear-piercing clang before her tears even hit the ground. Her scythe grinded against the blades, scattering sparks all around. Ruby's strike was an instant from tearing the automaton to pointy metal bits. "I'll kill you!" Ruby screamed in hate, pushing her blade further. She was forced to relent when Penny stabbed at her with her free blades. Ruby came right back though, Crimson Rose meeting Penny's magnetic blades in the eye of the storm of her own making.

Penny didn't react to Ruby's awesome power at all; emotionlessly slashing, dodging, and blocking all at a lightning pace. Their conflict pulverised and sent debris flying, pelting their nearby teammates with stones. Penny's rapid computing and automatic movements matched Ruby's speed semblance one to one.

Ruby, however, resolved to go faster, to outmatch Penny's mechanized speed by sheer force of will if nothing else. With renewed fervor she clashed with Penny's seven remaining blades, casting showers of sparks all around. Their near-instantaneous swordplay reflected the last rays of the sun, flashing orange light all around. Sparks turned into arcing electricity as Ruby pushed her speed past the limit.

Everyone backed away, not wanting to get caught up in the inhuman fight. Pyrrha stood her ground against Mercury at the center of the courtyard while Blake followed Emerald into the CCT Tower, through a window so as to avoid the storm of the century.

Lighting shattered windows and lamp lights as Ruby's and Penny's life or death clash continued. Yang's short hair stood on end as the gale-force winds blew through it. She fought against the wind to approach Ruby, ignoring the flying debris and deadly electrical arcs spreading from her sister. A pebble grazed her cheek, cutting it like a knife. As her blood streamed into the wind Yang's eyes flashed scarlet.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted, the concern deep in her voice.

"You can't beat her Yang; leave this to me!" Ruby harshly yelled from within the raging storm, her focus unaltered.

Yang was struck by her words. She knew she didn't stand a chance against Penny, but she had no idea that her sister was still in control. Grinning to herself, she called back, "Fine, Just be careful!" and turned to face Neo.

She was surprised to see what looked like fear in Neo's eyes as the pink and brown villainess' backpedal turned into a full-on run. Yang gave chase, following her all the way across the courtyard to the dance hall. 'So much running today!' She thought with a weary smile. Neo ran inside the ballroom while Yang stopped at the entrance. 'Alright, this could be a trap, so I need to be careful,' Yang considered. 'I could just stay here and wait her out… No, I need to finish this quick and get back to help Ruby… Can I even help Ruby now? She's so— Later, think about that later,' Yang finished as she stepped across the threshold.

The ballroom was long with balconies stretching out on either side in front of her. The far end featured mirrored staircases to the outside balconies. Tables and chairs were all stacked, some covered with cloth to stave off the dust. No, just regular dust. The ballroom floor was a slick, reflective black. The empty dance floor spoke volumes about the future of Beacon. 'Even if we win this fight, how many will fill this room again? How many from that night are already gone?' Yang thought sadley.

The deserted hall was silent, obviously Neo and Yang were there, but they were not alone. Through the crack of the nearby supply closet Yang spotted two yellow-gleaming eyes. Her eyes widened; a cat faunus student was hiding in there. She silently motioned to the boy, jerking her as if to say "get out."

The cowering student tentatively rose and crept out of the room, grateful for the rescue, though clearly and justifiably terrified of the rest of campus. Yang mouthed "Teachers, north-east," to the boy, pointing towards the colosseum.

He nodded in gratitude and ran out of the building. Now that the building was clear she walked to the center of the ballroom. 'No more running, no more talking; it's time to fight and it's high time for payback,' Yang told herself, eyes sparking at the thought.

Yang slowly made her way through the ballroom, taking care to notice her surroundings. Balconies, stairs, tables; all clear. As she was looking behind the stacks of chairs she suddenly threw herself forward.

A high-pitched metal clang followed her. Yang had seen Neo falling upon her, umbrella blade pointed downward, from her reflection in the floor. She had just barely avoided being skewered.

As if to reinforce this Neo pulled her saber out of the cracked ebony tile, rising from the floor, and looked straight at Yang. She no longer wore fear upon her face. Her eyes were now malevolent and accented by a sadistic smirk as she righted her saber.

Yang rounded upon her with red eyes and a big damn smile on her face, readying her fists in a wrestling pose. 'She's mute, but she can still hear me. So every word I say only helps her,' Yang considered. She wouldn't give her opponent the advantage; Yang swore herself to silence for this fight.

The frilly pink parasol sheath lofted down from the rafters and Neo caught it on her blade, the umbrella's pole. Neo flashed Yang a particularly manic smile before shattering like glass disappearing to hide within the room once again.

"Oh, for the love of—" Yang started before restraining herself. Taking a deep breath in through her nose and gradually exhaling through her mouth, Yang centered herself, 'Gotta stay calm despite the anger; that's what she told me.' The advice brought up bitter memories of the fight on the train and the thought of her absolute defeat brought up a deep resentment. Anger at her enemy, sure, there was that, but mostly anger at herself for letting the former control her.

Still mad, but with a clearer head, Yang paced around the ballroom, checking up-down, left-right. Up-down, left-right. Up-down, left—

'Sharp, sharp, that's sharp!' Yang thought, frantically throwing herself away from Neo's strike. Clutching her bloodied right shoulder she wheeled around to face Neo before exhaling a long, pain-infused breath. Her black jacket was left torn, wetted with a decent amount of her blood.

Neo stood there, umbrella sheath in her left hand and the deadly pole in her right. She deftly flicked the blade toward Yang, cleaning it of her blood. For the second time today blood splattered Yang's face, forcing her eyes closed.

"Ya know, that's very rude," Yang said, reopening her thoroughly unamused red eyes.

Neo began to sheath the blade, her hands both full.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yang lunged towards Neo, her left fist lit and raised, and swung.

Neo stepped into the blow, drawing and deflecting Yang's fist with the haft of her blade. She swung the sheath at Yang's ribs.

Yang tried to block with her right arm, but her wounded shoulder wouldn't comply.

Neo swung true, striking Yang's ribs and denting her aura, but mostly her pride.

Yang immediately grabbed the petite woman's wrists, squeezing them both tightly. Her eyes flared a brilliant vermillion, setting her hair alight. Despite their modest length, the brilliant golden locks flickered and leapt at Neo, blackening her white overcoat and scorching her aura.

Neo squirmed and wriggled in Yang's grip, as she drew her closer in. Desperate, she kicked out at Yang.

Yang took the blow to her stomach in stride, bringing her knee up at Neo.

Neo swung her body left, limberly avoiding the blow. She swatted Yang's left arm with her saber just above Ember Celica's protection, forcing her to release her grip. Quickly swinging her body back the other way, she used her momentum to wrest her left hand free of Yang's weakened right arm and flew a short distance through the air. As her feet touched down Neo sheathed her umbrella blade and bent to her right in one movement. The momentum carried her as she flipped over, cartwheeling away trailing a light smoke.

Yang was quick on her heels, following Neo with another burning left hook.

Coming out of the cartwheel, Neo spun and caught Yang's metal fist in her right hand. The impact burnt her sleeve off entirely, revealing pale skin protected by her aura. She quickly drew her umbrella towards Yang's offending arm, knocking herself free before backstepping away.

Yang rapidly lunged after Neo, reaching out at her. A crack appeared in Neo's smirk, but she still escaped Yang's grab. Her shattering ended the furious, silent exchange. Faltering slightly, Yang took a knee at the end of her lunge, the glass shards cutting through her aura, but only slightly. She sighed in frustration before breathing deeply in and out once more. The cuts healed while she caught her breath, but her semblance remained enraged. Rising, Yang looking around for any sign of Neo, peering into the room's shadows with her scarlet eyes.

Yang walked up the staircase to her right. Just like before she had to be absolutely aware of her surroundings. She started down the narrow balcony, paying careful attention to the columns and ceiling. Her fists balled within Ember Celica, tensing for the inevitable confrontation.

Yang smelled hint of smoke instantly pivoted, the dust stirring with her feet. She brought up her right gauntlet just in time to catch the umbrella swing as Neo swung into the balcony over the railing. Yang un-balled her fist and grasped at the deadly rain-deterrent, but she wasn't fast enough.

Neo brought the umbrella back and thrusted forward again in a rapid jab that connected with Yang's diaphragm.

Yang gasped, the breath knocked out of her lungs, but she did not falter. Rather she leaned into the blow, lunging to grab Neo. Her hand grazed the smaller woman's necklaces, causing their beads to rattle.

Neo backstepped away from the contact, looking straight at Yang for just a moment before disappearing in an intense flash.

A gasping Yang frantically burned the momentary blindness away with her eye's flame. 'This teleport isn't as long-range as the other, she's got to be… there!' Yang thought as she spotted a Neo-colored flash heading outside atop the other staircase. She instantly fired a blast of her weapon towards the exit, but to no avail. Neo had left the building.

Yang stood there for a moment, catching her breath, sure, but mostly thinking. The look on Neo's face had been unmistakable: fear. But it was more than that. She hadn't just looked nervous or apprehensive; Yang, the girl she had beaten handily not a year ago, had absolutely terrified Neo to her core. 'Before, she wasn't afraid of Ruby, she was afraid of… me.' Yang realized, 'So that's it.' She knew now what she had to do and headed for the outside balcony.

Nearing the top of the steps, she warily checked the doorway's angles for an ambush. Seeing no immediate threat, she inhaled and exhaled once again, settling herself despite her rage-laced eyes. Yang calmly, but urgently threw herself out of the doorway, whirling around and pointing Ember Celica at any opponent present. Oddly, there was no ambush, no White Fan; no nothing. There wasn't even— Neo was on the roof. Her diminutive downfall was just standing there alone, faced slightly away from Yang, even. Warily, very warily, Yang jumped up to the roof.

Yang landed and walked along the roof's spine, fists at the ready, gradually closing on Neo. When Yang got within 10 meters of Neo she rounded on her, causing her to halt.

Tonight a full moon tonight rose in the dusky purple sky, at least as full as the remnants of their broken moon could get. Neo was silhouetted against the celestial shard, her front darkened.

Yang couldn't make out Neo's expression, but her eyes caught the light of the nearby lamp post, mixing a rich french vanilla into their respective strawberry and chocolate. The warm glint revealed Neo's hand; she was nervous, off-kilter.

Yang had a chance just this once, but her semblance was beginning to wear on her; she would have to finish this soon.

She started towards Neo, taking slow, deliberate steps. The woman took a half-step back, bringing her umbrella up into a defensive stance.

Yang's red orbs met Neo's multicolored gaze, her expression resolute, unforgiving.

Neo couldn't look away. Eyes locked with Yang's, her hands began to tremble while holding her weapon.

Yang's short golden hair flickered and burned furiously up into the sky, slightly trailing her approach.

Obviously not able to say anything, Neo held her ground definitely. A slight breeze carried her strawberry-brunette strands aloft, their reflective surface gleaming brilliantly in the pale moonlight.

Yang stopped not two meters from Neo, closed her eyes, and drew her arms wide. She breathed in everything, filling her lungs with all of her hope, love, and wrath.

'Ride the wave of power, but don't let it take you where it wants,' Yang quoted to herself. 'Harness my power to its fullest extent, but also with complete control.'

Yang opened her eyes, their scarlet gleam painting the amethyst night with blood.

Neo couldn't even see the sky; she was captured by Yang's murderous glare. The red expanded, filling her sight and Neo panicked, quickly bringing her umbrella around.

Yang started to exhale and everything flowed out of her, rising into the cool air along with her breath. In this instant she felt empty; no emotion, no worries or distractions. No Yang, just a singular goal.

Yang lunged forward, moving with her breath, pushing her semblance to the brink. For once she was as fast as her sister. Yang's eyes fixed upon Neo, right arm outstretched, as she fired Ember Celica.

Silver and gold both blazed brilliantly against the darkening sky and, all at once, shattered, leaving only the shadows.

* * *

Yang landed hard on the ballroom floor, her side taking the impact. Neo had teleported away, not calculating for height in her hurry, but not before Yang had caught her by the throat.

Yang's right hand wrapped tight around Neo's throat, the two young women struggled against each other on the floor. In a moment Yang prevailed, rolling onto Neo and pinning her on her back, her abdomen trapped beneath Yang's legs.

Neo screamed in protest, kicking her legs and beating Yang's side with her umbrella.

"My deadbeat mom taught me how to fight you, but you already know that don't you?" Yang said.

Neo's strange cries grew more panicked, her swings landing harder, eating into Yang's aura.

Yang's eyes flared and her left hand shot out, grabbing Neo's wrist while still holding her down by the neck. Yang let out a pained growl and grabbed the umbrella with her teeth, ripping it from Neo's grasp and casting it across the room with a flick of her head.

Neo cried out desperately, now, trying in vain to rock Yang off of her. Her petite stature was helpful for dodging blows in battle, but proved an achilles heel when her opponent got ahold of her.

"So Neo, your wanted to hurt my friends and get away scott-free!?" Yang growled, holding the tiny woman down with ease.

Memories of Weiss flooded her and Yang squeezed Neo's neck. Her unbridled love for her friend flowed into her hand, making her clench down harder, pressing the necklaces' beads into Neo's throat.

Neo's screams turned into strangled, terrified whimpers. Her eyes were still locked with Yang's; the red eyes that always followed her, hated her.

Sitting atop her, Yang's arm stretched down, squeezing the life out of the woman she had trapped on the ground.

Neo weakly pawed at Yang's hands, trying in vain stop them from choking her to death.

Yang felt Neo's rapid pulse in her neck as the woman's face grew redder. 'This wasn't the plan, I can't do this,' Yang thought through her rage. Exhaling, Yang centered herself, slackening her grip on Neo's throat.

Neo began gasping, taking in as much air as she could. Once she had caught her breath she began crying, gulping down air between sobs. Neo's tearful eyes were still fixed on Yang's.

Yang, panting, looked down to see the pitiful, red-faced Neo hyperventilating and fearfully looking at her. 'Aww, shit, she thinks I'm going to kill her,' Yang guiltily thought. She looked away, eyes exploring the ballroom.

"I'm sorry, Neo. I didn't mean to do that, I'm just… upset," Yang said, unable to meet the woman's eyes now.

Neo really didn't know what to think, the red eyes never showed remorse, they only ever sought after her life. She was just glad that those eyes weren't looking at her for the moment.

"So my mom messed you up pretty bad for crossing the tribe, huh?" Yang asked.

After a moment, Neo timidly nodded. She had stopped crying now, though tears were welled up in her eyes.

With a tenderness usually reserved for her sister, Yang shifted her hand around the side of Neo's neck to cradle its back. She held Neo's head up slightly, brushing her strawberry bangs out of her eyes. Yang rested her forehead against Neo's own, looking into her pink and brown eyes.

Neo flinched, terrified by Yang's gaze.

She noticed and immediately turned her semblance off, not wanting to traumatize the woman further. "I am so sorry she hurt you, Neo," Yang said as she brought her free arm around the woman's back; wrapping her in a tight embrace.

Neo was left wide-eyed, even more speechless than usual. She never expected this kind of understanding from anyone of her own clan.

Neo lightly hugged Yang back as a white flash illuminated the hall's windows.

"That's definitely not my style…," Yang said, drawing her head back, "but just like back then I can't let you go through with this either," Yang said.

Neo figured she knew what was coming, but she was just too exhausted to fight it.

Pulling Neo's head forward, Yang slammed her forehead into Neo's as fast as possible, without using her semblance.

The crack of their skulls colliding merged with a deafening boom coming from Ruby's direction, but Yang wasn't in any position to tell what had caused it.

Upon the ballroom floor the two wayward children of the Xiao Long clan fell, both knocked unconscious from Yang's, as she would put it, "Head-on approach." Thought they had chosen different paths they wound up evenly matched in the end.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_** I hope you liked this chapter, the central fight was a bit… different, given that you can't exactly do the same shonen-style backstory-verbal-sparring with a mute character. Do tell me if it ran a bit long or became uninteresting. Also, I'd like to hear what people think of my version of Neo.

To spell it out, the fanon I'm operating on is that Neo was Yang's biological mother's partner back in their village. She crossed the tribe by stealing food, consequently Yang's mom was ordered to carry out Neo's sentence. She beat Neo in the calm, focused state of her semblance. That traumatic experience was the origin of her muteness, leaving her physically able to produce sound, unable to speak (I don't know if that's medically accurate or not, but I mean no offense either way.) After that Neo left the tribe due a mixture of starvation and ostracization, her and her combat skills from living in the wilds finding a home in organized crime. And lastly that Yang's mother told her how to fight Neo along with their history together.

Next up is Blake vs Emerald, among others, so please review, but most of all, please be excited.


	4. Roots

—

Chapter 4: Roots

Author's Note: For clarity's sake I'll just come out and say it: every time you see the line "A few minutes earlier…," it means the story has gone back to the time of the line "Everyone backed away, not wanting to get caught up in the inhuman fight," in chapter 3. That's simply because all of these fights are occurring simultaneously.

Oh, and just so we're further on the same page here, this is in no way in continuity with RWBY season 3, so don't confuse yourselves by expecting mentions!

* * *

A few minutes earlier Blake flew through the ground floor window of the Cross Continental Transmit Tower, chasing after Emerald. The instant she passed through the window frame the winds Ruby was stirring up outside quieted down. She landed on the metal floor, her infiltrator outfit fitting quite nicely. Blake's cat ears shivered in the open air. Her black leggings, skirt, white jacket, and bare midriff were much better suited to the warmer interior. The dusk sky cast a subtle light into the room as Blake looked around—just in time to see the elevator doors close on Emerald.

Hissing in exasperation, Blake sprinted to the nearby staircase, threw open the door, and practically leapt up the first flight of stairs. She focused her hearing on the elevator's humming tone and followed it up. Running up the stairs Blake thought, 'She's already got the advantage on me. By the time I get up there I'll be winded on top of already being weakened from before.' After a few more flights Blake heard the telltale "ding" and flew through the nearby exit door. As she emerged onto the darkened floor with her night vision she saw that it was all one room, punctuated by support columns and kiosks with monitors and chairs. The elevator doors opened on the nearby wall, casting a dim yellow light partway out into the room.

Out stepped Ruby, who Blake immediately swung Gambol Shroud at, drawing it from its sheath.

Ruby caught Blake's blade with a pair of sickles, throwing her back. Then, inexplicably, Ruby began to dissolve into shadow. Solid shadow. The darkness soon drew back revealing a short white jacket and leather chaps slightly concealing coffee skin, mint hair, and deep red eyes.

"You're good, cat girl," Emerald said, smirking.

"Save me your patronizing, liar," Blake shot back.

"Oh, excuse me for concealing my face. I wouldn't want be all bark, and no bite!" Emerald grunted, slicing at Blake alongside her words.

Blake parried the twin sickles with Gambol Shroud's sheath, throwing them to the side and kicking Emerald's knee. "All you're good for is bad jokes and making people's lives harder than they already are. I guess that's easy when you've never known real struggle," Blake said.

"Careful, cat. You have no idea why I'm doing this," Emerald growled back.

"I've some idea. Fanatics are usually the highest bidder, right?" Blake prodded, trying to buy time to catch her breath.

"No, you rebellion brat! I'm doing this because of your moronic war!" Emerald spat out.

"Hmph," Blake said. She had her.

"When I was younger I lived with my parents and brother in Vacuo. Not in the city, no, in the ghettos outside of town. The shanty houses were built just outside of the wall, human and faunus alike cowering in its shade," Emerald explained, her voice full of resentment. "We had nothing, but at least we were alive. Then the Faunus Rights Revolution broke out in the east. We didn't hear anything for a while, but then two 'merchants' staggered into town half-dead from dehydration. The idiots didn't even know how to dress for the heat, but that didn't stop anyone," Emerald sighed bitterly.

"A few words about equality and a 'better life' was all it took to convince most of the faunus. The poor and stupid didn't take many more. Before long half the people in town were meeting every other night, planning a doomed revolution. They started small: stealing supplies, beating up guards, but the military caught on quickly. Patrols increased tensions, tensions increased recruitment, and soon the two idiots had the war they wanted," Emerald continued.

Blake stiffened, no longer able to unemotionally egg her on. She had read the histories, she knew where this was going.

"Apparently the military caught wind of some conspirators in our neighborhood. Orders got passed up the chain and, well, artillery emplacements atop a 200 meter wall aren't that accurate. So, one day my brother and I come home from school to find our home leveled. We pulled our parents from the wreckage," Emerald said.

"I'm so sorry…" Blake replied, having caught up with her breath.

"You should be: it was those inciters—your people—who caused it. There wouldn't have even been a war in the west without their idiocy! And if it wasn't enough, those fools propped my brother up as a martyr, a symbol of the 'oppression' they were suffering under. A week later the military drafted him to quell the protests and I never saw him again," Emerald said.

"Once their symbol was gone they dropped me like I was just another orphan. No one wanted to feed the kid who called them on their bullshit. I was left with nothing! I stole just to eat, figuring that they deserved it. They did deserve it," Emerald said, the bitterness sharp on her tongue. "I got by like that for years, moving around and steal what I could—after I discovered my semblance it was easy. Eventually I found myself in Vale. Living was hard there—everything was kept indoors with fences few and far between. That's when Cinder found me. She gave me purpose, gave me a life again."

"Why are you doing this then? You must know that hurting all of these people isn't going to change anything," Blake protested.

"Don't doubt my resolve, cat. I have a role to play now," Emerald said.

And with that she lunged at Blake, sickles spinning.

Blake was caught off guard, but she was quick enough to block with Gambol Shroud's blade and sheath.

Emerald disengaged, firing a few shots at Blake as she ran behind a nearby column.

Blake caught the bullets in the chest, falling to the ground.

Emerald was not fooled, swinging her sickles at Blake's hiding place from afar, attached to their chains.

Blake dodged the blades, but only barely. The sickles demolished the column she was hiding behind, showering her with rent concrete and rebar. Blake emerged and flew at Emerald, Gambol Shroud's edge and sheath crossed, tied together by her ribbon. She spun, slicing, unraveling, and wrapping Emerald with her weapon.

Emerald parried some of the blows, but was too slow to deflect them all. She became caught in Blake's ribbon, tied to the girl. In a rage she lashed out at her, cutting the ribbons and Blake alike. Emerald was understandably alarmed when, as her sickles sunk into Blake, Blake's flesh congealed around them. Her shadowy form globbed onto Emerald, wrapping around her, pulling her and her weapon in.

The real Blake once again flew from the shadows, rendering both Emerald and her shadow with her two blades. However Blake did not cut her. She had felt the blow glance off of Emerald's aura. When she looked back the only thing there was her own broken image, dissolving into the little light.

Emerald apparent power greatly unnerved Blake. She focused her vision, searching past the elevator's light, peering into the shadow beyond the columns for any sign of Emerald. She panted heavily into the darkness, her previous fights now taking their toll. 'This isn't good,' Blake recognized. Quickly turning to check behind her, Blake—

was cut by Emerald. The sickle sunk into her arm and was gone in an instant, leaving Blake alone in the shadows with her aura screaming out in pain.

She now ran into the unlit room, unable to counter Emerald's chain-sickles from her current position. As she passed by the columns and desks, Blake heard a faint whistling coming from her right and spun, separating herself from the shadows, forming a clone where she had been. Blake turned just in time to see the sickle sink into the clone's chest, hooking clear through, and pull her clone back into the darkness with it. She at least had a plan.

Two more sickles came at her, arcing from both sides.

Blake froze and conjured clones on either side of her, taking care that they weren't close enough for the blades to cut through the shadows and into herself. She continued on like this, running towards the far wall, blocking the hidden strikes with her semblance as she went. However, the drain on Blake's aura was becoming too much. Splitting part of her aura off into another form—a disposable one at that—was costly. And doing it over and over…

She had to end this quickly.

Blake stopped, turning on her heel, and concentrated. She formed eight clones, sending them north, northeast, east, southeast, and so on. She closed her eyes and saw through theirs, probing at the darkness with her other selves. She was panting hard now, making it clear where the real Blake was. Her clones formed a shield, though. No one could get at her without going through them.

After moments of searching her eight clones had found nothing, passing by each other in turn. Out of the corner of her eye Blake saw one of the clones slightly turn its head to face her as it was passing by.

The 9th clone.

All at once the clone's eyes flashed from yellow to red, it lunged at her, and from shadow it drew twin sickles, raising them to strike.

Blake tried to parry, but she was too slow, having let her guard down to herself. The twin sickles easily shattered her remaining aura, gouging twin painful tracks down her back. Blake was able to pivot away from the cuts, but she was tired now. She was slowing in her movements as Emerald cast her sickles, now on chains, at her. Once again Blake was too slow, but she was not the true target. The chains wrapped around her, spinning the sickles around the room as Emerald ducked beneath. In an instant her clones were all cut through by the sickles, dissipating into the shadows.

A desperate Blake took her chance. She savagely struck the chains, shattering the metal and sending the sickles clattering to either side of the room. She turned on Emerald, but she was once again shadows. Growling to herself, Blake turned rapidly, trying to anticipate the direction Emerald would come from. She pivoted just in time to catch Emerald's sickles, locking blades with their owner. An exhausted Blake and vicious Emerald struggled, pushing Gambol Shroud back and forth, toward each other's throats. Wavering, Blake threw up her blade and sheath, breaking their clash, throwing them back just in time to avoid the brilliant white light that sliced between them. Blake was instantly blinded, her sensitive eyes seeing nothing but white as she staggered around, blinking, trying to catch hold of something. Just as she found a column Blake felt the floor beneath her quake. Stumbling, she blinked rapidly, taking in a blurry image of the room.

It was cut clean in two.

The cut ran vertically through the ceiling and floor as well as down each wall. The edges, though not far apart, were glowing red hot against the dusky violet sky. The CCT Tower quaked again, throwing Blake off balance.

She looked over at Emerald, now standing back from the edge on the opposite side from her.

And then the building began to fall.

Slough off, more accurately. The smaller half of the tower gave way and started to slide down it's much more load-bearing counterpart.

Unfortunately for Blake she was on that half.

Blake sprinted full tilt at the edge, sheathing Gambol Shroud on her back. As she approached her half of the tower started to fall back, the floor tilting upwards in front of her. 'No, no, no, no!' was approximately her thought process as she ran up to the edge and leapt into the growing gap. Blake flew across the void, rapidly closing on the edge of the floor before Emerald. The distance closed in to the final inches and Blake swiped at the edge—and caught the air, sinking below the floor.

Sure, Blake thought, ninjas were supposed to be composed and quiet in even the most stressful of circumstances, but this was ju—

"Shit!" Blake cried out as she painfully bounced off of the floor below. Flipping back around, she drew Gambol Shroud and cast the ribbon-wrapped blade at the half of the floor Emerald was on. The blade shot upward, rapidly depleting the ribbon's slack as Blake plummeted further below. Gambol Shroud sunk into the above floor and Blake threw herself to the side, shifting her momentum to hopefully avoid pulling the blade loose. She rapidly wrapped what slack was left around her forearm just before the ribbon was pulled taunt, snapping and squeezing her right wrist painfully. Blake swung back towards the tower, colliding once, twice. She caught her footing just in time to avoid the sheets of glass shards that fell past her, just slightly out from the tower. Blake ran along the lower floor's severed edge perpendicular to her tether.

Reaching the end of the floor she jumped to the tower's outer wall, running straight up it. Looking upward now, she saw that Emerald was scaling the tower too. She seemed to be heading towards Beacon's now-lopsided central spire, way up in the moonlit amethyst sky. Blake whimpered; contrary to what some racists would say, she was not exactly attuned to heights. She made for it as well as she felt a sickening crack run up the tower. She had to pull on her tether to regain her footing on the shuddering wall. Unfortunately, this dislodged Gambol Shroud, so she reeled it in, sheathing her weapon on her back.

As Blake ran up the tower the cold high-altitude winds blew across her body, simultaneously stinging and numbing the gashes in her back. Blake considered that the climb was talking a lot out of her. Where were Weiss' glyphs when you needed them?

...shit.

Blake didn't have much time to regret her mental faux pas. The tower rumbled once again, signaling the rent gears in Ozpin's office rolling out of their destroyed harness. Blake cursed and threw herself to the right, dodging a half-gear that was still molten orange from whatever that energy blast was. She looked up to see several more large steel gears tumbling towards her. Blake harnessed what was left of her strength and leapt onto the first, turning back as it revolved in the air. Quickly she jumped off of it to the next gear, ascending past the deadly debris to the tower above.

Utterly exhausted, Blake clambered through the broken windows of Ozpin's office. The remaining half, anyway. She scanned over the room's shattered glass, gnarled cogs, and lone elevator for any sign of her opponent. Before she could find Emerald, though, the entire tower groaned and swayed towards its missing half. "Oh no. Oh, no, no, no…," Blake muttered to herself as she looked back down at the staggering distance she had climbed up the CCT Tower wall.

The tower itself, though, was determined to make Blake's every dream die. It leaned threateningly back, tilting the vertical wall in front of her to a somewhat less severed angle. "Ah hell!" Blake half declared, half prayed as she jumped back out of the window. She hit the tower wall, her leggings sliding along its surface, slowing her freefall descent. The tower now was in full freefall, tilting ever more horizontally. Blake kicked up into a half-jumping run, taking long, breakneck strides towards the wonderful, oh-so threatening ground. As the CCT Tower fell further she approached its bottom, her aching legs pumping at full stride, powered by adrenaline and, blissfully, gravity.

As the tower rapidly neared the ground Blake approached the end of its broken trunk—which was still a good 20 meters above the ground. Cursing her luck, she ran full tilt at the precipice and jumped off of it. Desperate, Blake summoned the last of her aura as she was freefalling, creating a clone before her as she landed upon it, somersaulting before tumbling violently onto the campus green. As Blake flopped onto her back at the end of her roll the Cross Continental Transmit Tower slammed into the ground with earth-shattering force, kicking up a huge dust cloud that instantly billowed over her.

Clutching her arm, but otherwise unharmed from the fall, Blake coughed and painfully rose to her feet. Peering through the dust she could see little but a fallen cog and the chunks of concrete that littered the lawn. She wandered around, peering through the cloud to find the tower's base. She caught sight of it and followed it around to the plaza-facing entrance. As the dust began to clear Blake looked out upon the plaza and saw—

* * *

Author's Note: I'm sorry. I'm kind of / definitely a piece of shit for ending this here, but this chapter was getting a bit big, so I had to break it off here. Both Blake and Yang's fights grew beyond their initial scope, but I'm satisfied with how they turned out.

Y'know, I never imagined that this story—of all stories—would be fairly happy compared to canon. Like... fuck.

But anyway, I'd like to know what you thought, of course—whether this chapter kept you entertained or not. Do stick around, though. I promise this is all going somewhere shortly—it's not just endless punching for punching's sake.


End file.
